'’’^ug^UEßEON .ateway to CENTRAL CAROLINA | YEAR HEW PARTY ■ divorce laws of k : MED BY SENATORIAL VOTE I Two Years Separation Is Enough, Regardless of Mutual Agreement, I Under New Act I legislators can I SERVE ON BOARDS I House- Passed Bill Accepted Iby Senate After Amend- I ments Broaden It Sharply; I Legislature To Go to Eden- I to n Next Thursday for I Their Session 1 March 6 (AP)— Senators I todav t ii u ted into law a bill to permit I divorce in North Carolina on the ■ frour.d' of two years of separation ■-othor or not the separation is by ■ ' justices would find defen ii I>y in test cases, so that the tetion of Sunday sales might be b-icud before juries. Asheville Girls Win Concession ~A M arch 6 (AP)— Striking j' f J f ' ! of Asheville Normal Col m?, W(JI, f ;ir; ulty consent today for dom in their personal as -11 their leaders said the sit c/ n '"Tcupation of the chapel would a 11 • until the promised reforms a , r " 111 y made effective, for which , , by the administrative board b Squired. ‘ ‘ho board’s three members 0 f ~ >i' d sick and another out th,, making it uncertain when would be considered. r , 1( , r( 7 1 a conferncq with (faculty boun/ *' representatives an ,,J they had been promised a Continued on Page Five.) MrmVranu Haifa tli-urntrl- LEASED WIRE SERVICE OP THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: AS $250,000 FIRE DESTROYED CHARLOTTE TEMPLE >| wEBBmmF MWmm 11. IIL m n Ilp i .:»■ I§s iHI- H fl| Hk IBb 7. f .jB6; H- I * jSbw 9smm Bursting through the roof and windows almost in one spurt, a $250,000 fire is shown destroying the Masonic Temple at Charlotte. N. C. Flying embers showered on three city blocks, but prin cipal damage aside from the Temple itself was confined to awnings. (Associated Press Photo) LEGISLATURE NEARS FINAL ADJOURNMENT ONLY 2 WEEKS OFF Social Security and Free Textbooks Bills Pass Both Houses During Past Week HIGHWAY~SET-UP IS YET TO BE SETTLED Changes in Election Laws Also Still Waiting, Though Convention Nomination of Judges Is Killed; State In stitutions Good “Askers” By W. JOYNES MacFARLAN Raleigh, March 6 (AP)—The North Carolina General Assembly hurdled so cial security and free textbooks prob lems this week but school and revenue machinery acts and highway finance and reorganization bills still must be enacted. Rushing toward sine die adjourn ment, which leaders persisted would come between March 13 and 20, legis lators continued their record-breaking speed. Senators late yesterday adopted a resolution calling for sine die adjourn ment March 18. The House refused to exempt coun ties from making contributions to the SI6|DOO,OC)D biennial social security program for the aged and indigent children, then made clarifying chan ges and returned the measure to the Senate for concurrence in amend ments. Free Textbook Bill Passes Senators in committee opposed the textbooks to provide a $1,500,000 bond issue for free texts for elementary pu- Continued on Page Five.) IPREPAREHEFENSE ' OF DENTIST CASE Meantime, Probe of Char lottesville Girl’s Death Continues Charlottesville, Va., March 6. —(AP) —E. V. Walker, Charlottesville at torney, said counsel for Dr. R. G. Mil ler would confer here tooay on plans to combat the State’s charge of mur der against the 53-year-old dentist in the chloroform death of pretty Cleo Sprouse, 18, a high school girl. He said he and his law partner, Robert Taylor, would meet with the third member of the defense battery, Commonwealth's Attorney Ratcliffe of Henrico county. Ratcliffe’s official position at Richmond does not inter fere with his taking part in this Al bemarle county case. Prosecutor W. O. Fife today was using scientific crime detection methods against what he termed un satisfactory parts of the signed state ment in Which he said Dr. Miller ad mitted the girl died of chloroform ad ministered as the dentist prepared to perform an abortion. ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED UHE-UP PREDICTED FOR 1838 Bail Not Asked In Dentist’s Defense Charlottesville, Va., March 6. (AP) —E. V. Walker, of defense counsel, announced after a confer ence of defense attorneys today bail would not be sought at this time for Dr. E. G. Miller, charged in a warrant with murder in con nection with the death of Cleo Sprouse, 18-year-old high school girl. “We expect, of course, to do everything possible to see that Dr. Miller gets a fair trial, but the case is too new now to determine what our definite defense will be,” Walk er said. Legislators j Give Day Pay To McDonald Daily Digpatch Bureau, In the Sir Waller Hotel. Raleigh, March 6. —Many members of the General Assembly, forgetting all past political differences, are join ing in the movement launched in the House yesterday to give one day’s pay to a fund which will be sent to Dr. Ralph W. McDonald, of Winston- Salem, now in the Forsyth county tubercular hospital. Dr. McDonald was taken to the hospital here just a week ago, as a result of a relapse following influenza, Where it was found that one lung had a tubercular infection. He was taken from the hos pital here to the Forsyth county sani torium three days ago, where the doc tors say he will have to remain for at least six months. More than 20 members of the House have already signed the letter which (Continued on Page Four.) VERMONT INFANT IS MYSTERIOUSLY SLAIN Autopsy Conducted To Determine Pre cise Circumstances of Child’s Death Windsor, Vt., March 6 (AP) —Grim State officials gathered today at a bare undertaking establishment to perform &n autopsy on the battered body of four-year-old Beverly Ann Page, of Claremont, N. H., while po lice mentioned a “gang of young hel lions” as possible suspects. Police Chief John Edmond assert ed he was seeking members of a group of young boys for questioning. Simultaneously State’s Attorney Al bion Parker declared there was ‘‘evi dence of an attempte d criminal at tack.” As the child’s dazed father waited at the home of Mrs. Louis Thibault, Beverly Ann’s aunt, for State Patho logist Charles Whitney’s verdict, Mrs. Thiault told authorities she was cer tain the tiny tot had been murdered. HENDERSON, N. C., SATURDAY. AFTERNOON. MARCH 6, 1937 IN THIS SECTION OF NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA. IHINKjjIANyOEAO Spanish City Harassed Good Part of Night by Insur gent Planes Madrid, March 6.—(AP) —Many per sons were Relieved dead today in the government-held city of Aranjuez after a s night of terror in which in surgent planes, making repeated visits, dropped more than 50 bombs. The attack on Aranjuez, which start ed at the dinner hour last night and lasted intermittently until after 2 a. m. today, were the most severe of a series in a broad semi-circle of insur gent air raids on the central Spanish front. Aided by a star-studded sky, the bombing squadrons dropped ex plosives with telling accuracy onto one spot 15 miles west of Madrid; an other 15 miles to the east; a third 50 miles to the southeast on the Valen cia highway and other points near Madrid and the Valencia highway. Precise figures on the casualties were not available. speakejMiie^ But Closeness Indicates In spection s-Terminals May Rise Again Dally Dispatch Bureau, In the Sir Walter Hotel. Raleigh, March 6. —Speaker Gregg Cherry’s “No” Friday broke a House tie vote and defeated the gasoline inspection bill introduced by members of the Ehringhaus gasoline commis sion. The count by the clerk showed 46 ayes and 46 noes and so the pre siding officer was called upon to break a tie for the first time in many General Assembly sessions. The bill set up a gasoline inspection commission, provided for the ap pointment of inspectors, authorized the establishment of “ports of entry” on all main highways entering the State and laid down many rules and regulations surrounding the sale and distribution of petroleum products. , In view of the fact the vote was so close that more than twenty-five House members did not vote at all, it is generally considered likely that a revised measure will pass. Although sponsored by an Ehring haus-appointed commission, many of (Continued on Page Eight.) JAP GEISHA GIRLS WIN THEIR STRIKE Guild of Their Own Granted To Girl Entertainers in Oseka Cases and Clubs Osaka, Japan, March 6.—(AP)— Three, hundred gaily clad geisha girl entertainers in Osaka’s bright-lighted cases, ended their eight-day sitdown strike today with recognition of their rights to form a geisha guild. The striking girls, who spent more than a week of self-immolation in a Buddhist mountain temple, accepted a compromise agreement which police had labored to effect through the night. Their main demand, a guild of their own organization, was granted by harassed Osaka employers. FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF AMERICAN LABOR BECOMING INTENSE Company Unions In Steel Industry Join Battle and Seek A. F. of L. Alignment GREEN CAUTIOUS OF COURSE HE TRAVELS Declines To Attack Lewis C. I. O. Group Through Company Unions; C. I. O. Meets in Washington Tuesday To Map Union Drives in Other Industries (By The Associated Press.) The end of a week of momentous developments in the field of industrial unionization saw a quickening today of the struggle for control of labor. In the steel industry, the leaders of so-called “company unions” joined the battle, whose major contending forces heretofore have been the Am erican Federation of Labor and John Lewis’ C. I. O. Recognition of the C. I. O. as sole bargaining agent for its members in the Carnegie Illinois Steel Corpora tion gave Lewis’ supporters an early advantage, but their foes quickly gave a counter offensive. At Pittsburgh, leaders of the cor poration’s employee representatives drafted plans for combatting the C. I. O’s intentions of enrolling the na tion’s 550,000 steel workers. A com mittee was authorized to reorganize the “company union’ structure. Although at odds with the Lewis or ganization, President William Green, of the A. F. of L., declined to attack the C. I. O. through support of the Carnegie Illinois employee group. He told the latter it must be-wholly free from company influence before the A. F. of L. could recognize it afl an ally. The C. I. O. will meet in Washing ton Tuesday to discuss unionization campaigns in several large industries. Among them the textile industry, em ploying 1,250,000 workers. Arrests and eluggings marked the taxicab drivers’ strike in Chicago. Leaders claimed 1,800 Yellow Cab Continued on Page Five.) ' RAIL OF CHARLOTTE PASSES Edgar Thomason Was Head of Both Piedmont and Northern and Durham & Southern Charlotte, March 6.—(AP)—Edgar Thomason, president of the Piedmont & Northern Railway and the Durham & Southern Railway, died here today. The 69-year-old railway executive had been critically ill since February 22, when he suffered a stroke of paralysis in his office. A native of Cleveland county, N. C., Thomas started his railroad career in 1890 as an agent-operator at Earle for the Charleston, Cincinnati & Chicago railroad. After working In Blacks fcurg and Gaffney, S. C., he abandon ed railroading temporarily to man age the Gaffney Carpet Manufactur ing Company. In 1903, however, he re turned to his former occupation as an employee of the Seaboard Air Line railway at Atlanta. He became president of the Durham & Southern upon the death of B. N. Duke, who had held that post. Three years ago he was elected president of the Piedmont & Northern. Surviving are his widow and five children. Legislature May Endorse Roosevelt Court Plan As Result Os Tydings Speech Dally Diapatch Bureau, In the Sir Walter Hotel By J. C. BASKERVILL Raleigh, March 6—Every cloud seems to have its silver lining with the result that many now believe that the speech made here at the so-called “Victory Dinner” by Senator Millard E. Tydings of Maryland which turn ed out to be little more than a bit ter attack upon both President Roose velt and all “New Deal” Democrats, was one of the best things that could have happened. It has crystallized sentiment definitely in favor of the President and his program in almost every section of the State and shown that the bulk of the Dmocrats in North Carolina are definitely “Roose veltian Democrats”, instead. of “Lib erty League” Democrats, observers here are pointing out today. It has also stirred the long-smould ering sentiment against Senator Josiah William Bailey because of his continued opposition to President PUBLISHER) HVHRT AFTERNOON EXCEPT SUNDAY. Aluminum Workers Join Lewis Union Pittsburgh, Pa., March 6.—(AP) —•Representatives of union alumi num workers at the big New Kens ington, Pa., plant of the Aluminum Company of America announced today they have bolted the Amer ican Federation of Labor in favor of unionism under John L. Lewis. W. B. Gravatt, president of Local 18.356 of the Aluminum Workers Union, said the action was taken at a meeting at N